Yes or no

[Stacy Tegner]

Attorney ends many questions w/ "yes or no"
i.e. "Did you move to the United States just to work; yes or no?"
and
"Did that cause you distress to some extent; yes or no?"

I've been putting the semicolon. Whadda think? Semi, comma, or its own question?

Thanks

[Cathryn Bauer]

I usually semicolon those because to me, it looks clearer than a comma. I might also make them their own question, depending on the length and clarity of the preceding sentence. I know there are conflicting opinions on this, though. I don't consider it wrong to use commas.

[Kyung]

Just my two cents, I use commas on those.

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

my first impulse is to use a semi colon, but
Cathryn's comment makes me lean more to her suggestion.
making it a separate sentence. it does seem to be a separate sentence. the Yes or No portion does not restate the question so i wouldn't use a semi colon there.

I have noticed that i'm using fewer commas and more periods lately. just because
a sentence is short doesn't mean it should be tied to another sentence with a
comma.
kathy

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

I see it as 2 separate sentences, both being questions:

Did that cause you distress to some extent? Yes or no?

[Stacy Tegner]

Thank you everyonel. I am leaning toward changing the semi to two separate questions. It's an interpreter depo so the questions gets translated and right when the interpreter finishes the question, before the witness can answer, he says "yes or no."

(this is the same job w/ the "approximately" at the end that I asked about in a previous post!) I think I'm having so much trouble w/ this transcript because the atty asks very long questions and by the time the whole interpretation is done, he throws in something at the end. So I think because the ?s are long, I like the two separate questions.